American Chris Byrd was crowned the International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion when he beat veteran Evander Holyfield on a unanimous points decision last night.
The relatively unknown southpaw Byrd was simply too fast for the aging Holyfield and disposed of him in a one-sided fight with all three judges putting him ahead on their scorecards - 116-112, 117-111, 117-111.
Byrd paid tribute to his defeated foe and said "He is a great fighter, I beat him to the punch all night long. He wasn't hitting me, but it looked good to the crowd. I got a little dehydrated in the later rounds. He wasn't hitting me with a lot of clean punches so he wasn't hurting me. He knows how to cut the ring off and try to steal a round with power shots He's a real crafty guy."
This win should earn Byrd a fight against the winning of the John Ruiz-Roy Jones Jnr WBA bout in March, and Byrd may will now be groomed as a challenger to Lennox Lewis. Holyfield, meanwhile, insisted that his career is far from over and claimed "My goal is still to be undisputed heavyweight champion of the world."
Elsewhere, Joe Calzaghe made short work of North Dakota's Tocker Pudwill in his defence of his WBO super-middleweight title. Calzaghe knocked Pudwill out after just 39 seconds of the second round in a near miss-match.
Filed by Rob Wright
